♪ don't ask falters. senate democrats can't come up with votes to lift the ban on gays servely openly in the military. afghanistan debate. a new book cites fierce divisions within the obama administration over strategy for winning the war. and bugs summit as bedbugs rattle the northeast experts and exexterminators plot a counterattack. this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, september 22nd, this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, september 22nd, 2010. captioning funded by cbs good morning, everyone on a wednesday. good to see you. i'm terrell brown in for betty nguyen this morning. the senator majority leader says he won't wait until next year to try again to lift a ban on gays

serving openly in the military. he plans to bring it up again after the november election but some gay rights activists say the democrats missed their best chance to end don't ask don't tell yesterday. joel brown reports. >> reporter: senate democrats took a big political gamble and lost. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: their election-year effort to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell policy failed by four votes. democrats tried to include the repeal in a military spending bill that's needed to fund operations in iraq and afghanistan. a tactic that outraged republicans. >> this is a blatant political ploy in order to try to galvanize the political base of the other side, which is facing a losing election. >> reporter: democrats were counting on the support of moderate republicans like susan collins of maine, who thinks gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. but, she sided with her party on the procedural vote. with democrats likely to lose

seats in the midterm elections, this may have been their best shot for a while at overturning don't ask, don't tell, something president obama has promised to do. military leaders say the repeal effort should wait, at least until a pont gone study on its possible impact comes out in december. >> i don't know yesterday what the impact on recruiting and retention will be and our -- >> reporter: but for david hall, change can't come soon enough. he was thrown out of the air force for being gay. >> just like when we are in battle. sometimes you lose the fight but you look forward and you regroup and i think that's what people will be doing. >> reporter: he hopes democrats will bring the issue up again after election day. joel brown, cbs news, washington. in afghanistan, nato officials deny taliban claims it shot down a helicopter that killed nine coalition troops, mostly americans. the chopper went down yesterday in southern afghanistan. this is now the worst year of the war for no forces, with at least 530 dead.

a new book from reporter bob woodward shows president obama's advisers split over u.s. strategy in afghanistan. the "new york times" obtained and advanced copy of the book that, quote depipsts an administration deeply torn over the war even as the president agreed to triple troop levels there. woodward quotes richard holbrooke, the president's representative for afghanistan and apparently says the current strategy against the taliban can't work. woodward also says mr. obama ma agreed to send more troops to afghanistan but insisted on setting a timetable for withdrawal because he feared he might, quote, lose the whole democratic party. turning to moneywatch. most stocks in asia edged up this morning. ashley morrison in new york with morning. good morning to you. >> good morning, terrell. asian stock markets ad veinsed slightly this morning in light training. the neck kay bucked the trend slipping about a third of a percent, the hang seng mostly higher. on wall street investors hope to add to gains. yesterday, the dow rose by seven

and the nasdaq fell six points. another member of president obama's economic team is leaving. lawrence summers, the president's top economic adviser plans to leave the white house at the end of the year and return to harvard university. he's the third top-level economic advise arer to the president to leave since july. meanwhile, following his policy-making meeting yesterday, the federal reserve made clear it is prepared to take further steps to jump-start the economy. fed fashsials said that means purchasing mortgage bonds and tresh reap notes and the fed said it will likely keep its benchmark interest rate near zero for an extended period of time. while the economic recovery struggles, the global airline industry is doing better than expected. profits for this year could add up to nearly $9 billion. that's more than triple the earlier estimates. it's a big rebound from last year, when the industry lost nearly $10 billion. and caldwell banker out with

its annual list of the most expensive and most affordable american housing markets. the most costly city is newport beach, california, while the least expensive is detroit. now, a four-bedroom, two-bath home in newport beach goes for $1.8 million, while the same house in detroit would cost you just $68,000. terrell that, is a big difference. >> very big difference. oh, yeah, the mortgage crisis going non detroit and property values there falling nearly 80%, a really tough time for detroit right now, ashley. >> it is. >> ashley, thank you so much. president obama flies to new york this afternoon to aattend world summit at the united nations, addressing the general assembly tomorrow. protesters gathered outside the u.n. headquarters yesterday. ran's president ahmadinejad spoke to the assembly inside while that was happening. tonight, president obama will step away from the u.n. and appear at a major fund-raiser for democratic congressional candidates and he's not the only obama pitching in for the run-up

to the november elections. tara mergener is in washington with that and more. >> good morning, terrell. michelle obama has long said she is, quote, no political animal. but, she's about to jump head on into the political fray. the white house is about to unleash one of its biggest stars onto the campaign trail. next month, first lady michelle obama will headline at least nine democratic fund-raisers in six states. she'll raise money for a handful of candidates facing tight re-election battles on democratic turf. among them, wisconsin senator russ feingold who passed up a chance to campaign with president obama earlier this month and california senator barbara boxer. >> i think she will go out and make a forceful and positive case for what this administration has done. >> reporter: the white house insists mrs. obama is eager to hit the road and democrats are just as eager to have her. polls show she's more popular

than her husband. >> michelle obama has, i think, enormous power in energizing the base and reenergizing the base where that's necessary. >> reporter: the first lady has scored points with americans through her efforts to curb childhood obesity and her role as a mom and fashion icon. liberals believe that star power could help shrink the growing enthusiasm gap among voters. >> even if you are not necessarily a big fan of barack obama's presidency and policies, a lot of people still like michelle obama as a person, as a mother, and role model. >> reporter: come november, democrats hope mrs. obama will live up to the same nickname she earned during the 2008 presidential campaign, which was "the closer." and the white house says don't expect mrs. obama to go negative. instead, she will focus on what democrats can do for the future. terrell, back to you. >> tara mergener in washington for us this morning. thank you so much. and american war hero finally publicly honored for his

courage more than 40 years after his death. at the white house yesterday president obama presented the medal of honor of the sons air force chief master srst richard etchberger. he died saving the lives of three wounded comrades when soldiers overran a top-secret u.s. radar station in laos. coming up, an 11-year-old babysitter is charged with murder. plus, city officials are arrested in a salary scandal in bell, california. first, a preview of the cbs evening news. as questions about the quality of what we eat continue, we'll look at a food safety system full of gaps and redundancies. why haven't the problems that led to the salmonella outbreak been fixed? we'll investigate tonight, only on the "cbs evening news." [ female announcer ] stay once...

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a railroad bridge in tulsa. he tried to hang himself but fell into the river. officers ended up pulling him out. he allegedly had arranged to have his daughter taken from school. he is being held on bail on previous charges. half a dozen current and former officials in bell, california will be in court today. they are charged with padding their paychecks at the expense of the people who live in the working-class suburb of los angeles. sandra hughes reports this morning. >> reporter: finally the people in bell, california have something to celebrate, former city manager robert rizzo, who was being paid twice the salary of the president, was arrested tuesday. he was charged with corruption and misuse of funds, along with seven other city officials. >> corruption on steroids. >> reporter: a battering ram was used to break down the door and arrest the mayor, oscar hernandez. robert rizzo, the former city manager, who resigned, was making almost $800,000. his assistant was making $376,000. current and former city council members who worked part time made $100,000 a year.

>> they used the tax dollars collected from the hard-working citizens of bell as their own piggybank, which they then looted at will. >> reporter: angry residents have demanded payback after accusations that bell city officials hiked property taxes, sewer fees, and allegedly targeted hispanics for motor vehicle violations and towing fees to raise money for their inflated salaries. the state is forcing bell to come up with money to refund overpaid property taxes. people in this small community have a median income of about $30,000. the police chief who made almost half a million a year and also resigned, has not been accused of wrongdoing and was not arrested. >> it's not illegal in the state of california, especially in a charter city, for people to get paid ridiculous sums of money. >> reporter: it may not be illegal, but to the residents of this town, with 16% unemployment, it is certainly immoral. sandra hughes, cbs news.

bell, california. an 11-year-old babysitter charged with murder in georgia. a 2-year-old died late saturday. an autopsy found she had blunt force injuries on her head and body. the babysitter claimed the child fell out of bed. the victim's mother said the babysitter's mother should feel the same pain. >> i hope her daughter gives life because she took my daughter away. my daughter was 2 years old. my daughter doesn't deserve to be dead. my daughter is supposed to be here with me right now. >> the mother of the 11-year-old babysitter may also be charged in the child's death. straight ahead, your wednesday morning weather forecast. in sports, the first team qualifies for major league baseball's postseason. we'll be right back. pers, filte it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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funny thing about vegetables... they fill you up without filling you out. yes! v8 juice gives you three of your five daily servings of vegetables. that's what i'm talking about! v8. what's your number? here's a look at weather in some cities around the country. new york, partly cloudy, 8 some cities, new york partly 87. miami, thunderstorms 90. 86, partly cloudy in denver. los angeles, 70 and partly cloudy. time now for a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows clear skies over the southeast and southwest. not so clear in the northern plains, scattered clouds and overcast skies in the northwest and a large area of storm clouds moving into the great lakes region and the northeast. later today, rain and thunderstorms found in the northern plains, great lakes and desert southwest. the southeast remains mostly sunny and hot.

west coast looking great. the southeast is starting to warm up. in sports, this morning, minnesota is the playoffs. the twins were behind but scored four in the eighth to beat cleveland 6-4 giving minnesota the american league central division title. in the national league -- a three-run homer against atlanta, they win 5-3. boosting the phillies' lead. their magic number to win is six. in the nfl, michael vick officially the starting quarterback for philadelphia. the controversial vick led the eagles to a win over detroit last sunday. the coach chose him yesterday saying monday kevin cobb would be the quarterback. and the jets wide receiver braylon edwards could face suspension. he was driving -- charged, rather, with driving while intoxicated early yesterday. he will not start sunday against miami. the coach will decide how much he plays. when we come back this morning, another look at our top

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try our better-for-you western egg white muffin melt or the dee-licious double bacon egg and cheese on toasty flatbread. subway. build your better breakfast. merritt neighborhood. the attacks happened late sunday night... one on third avenue and one at east 18th street and lakeshore avenue. coming up at five... a sketch of what the suspect looks like. it may soon be harder to catch an a-c transit bus. the proposed cuts the agency will talk about today. and a san jose police officer under investigation... accused of false imprisonment. join us at five. a suspect description in the attacks on women in oakland's [ indistinct conversations ] [ female announcer ] this is not a burger. it's better. because with 57% less fat than regular ground beef, it's better for you. you see, this is a morningstar farms® meatless griller. that's right, meatless. and it tastes as good as it looks. so you can still enjoy that grilled-burger taste you love...

and everything that comes with it. morningstar farms® grillers® original. [ indistinct conversations ] now that's more like it. [ ding! ] on the on the "cbs morning news," today's weathe it is the last day of summer and the heat still in the southeast. northern plains have been experiencing autumn-like weather the past week. severe storms on the move again in the northern plains. here's another look at the top stories this morning, how did senate democrats do trying to overturn the ban on gays serving openly in the military? don't ask. they fell short yesterday but the majority leader harry reid says they will try again after the election. a "new york times" reports a new book by bob woodward says the obama white house was torn over debate over its war strategy. in utah a wildfire is 50%

contained. evacuation orders for about 250 homes on the west side of the fire. but residents of about 200 homes are being allowed to return. a public library in frederick county, maryland, the last place hit with the bedbug problem. the urbana regional library was shut down after a worker spotted a bedbug in a book. there's an all-out war against them in this country. a summit wrapped up near chicago yesterday. cynthia bowers reports. >> reporter: with marquis stores like nike in midtown manhattan shut down due to bedbugs why would a big name hotel knowingly let them check in? because these pests aren't unwanted guests. they are the featured attraction at the first ever north american bedbug summit. more than 50 exhibitors crammed into a small ballroom. all touting solutions to a creepy and increasingly lucrative epidemic. >> it's definitely exploding at levels we haven't seen in the

past. >> reporter: last year americans spent more than $258 million trying to get rid of bedbugs, more than double the 2006 level. a number sure to rise as fear like the infestation spreads. detective bedbug proposes its dogs can sniff out the critters in a matter of minutes. >> search. >> reporter: all you are doing is delivering the bad news, not killing the bedbugs. >> no, but the bad news is tough to give. >> reporter: companies are cashing in on our desperation, pushing everything from pesticides to luggage wrappers. >> you will eliminate all bedbugs from your life. >> reporter: even a concoction that smells like us -- to help capture the blood-thirsty buggers. if you hesitate about bringing chemicals into your house, there are two other options. first, you can freeze them. or you can fry the suckers. the temperature in this room is more than 130 degrees.

high heat at a high cost. as much as several thousand dollars, depending on the size of the house. >> we have a good solution to bedbug treatment but we need to make it more affordable. >> reporter: to take the bite out of the bill, as well as the cynthia bowers, cbs news, rosemont, illinois. paris hilton's business trip to japan derailed. immigration officials said this morning they are denying her entry into the country. she arrived at tokyo's airport last night with sister niki. questioned by authorities upon arrival and, in the wake of her drug case on monday, hilton pled guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge in las vegas. some kids in greenville, wisconsin want to give peace a chance. yesterday, hundreds of students at greenville elementary school got together to form a giant human peace sign to get kids to think about peace on world peace day. coming up this morning on "the early show," finding the right pair of jeans for your body type.

we'll talk about it a bit later on. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund.

i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

of course, the new school year is under way. while the pressure is on to perform well in class, in los angeles, teachers are feeling the heat, too. evaluations of teachers are being posted online for all to see and they're not happy about it. ben tracy reports. >> reporter: these teachers in los angeles feel picked on, singled out, and accused of not being good enough. >> it is unfair! >> when did we become the bad guys? when did we become the ones that we diss, that we hate, that we witch hunt? >> reporter: connie ordw ordway teaches fifth grade. she and her colleagues are furious with the "los angeles times." the paper created a searchable

database using school district data ranking teachers from best to worse. connie was branded a least effective teacher. when you first saw it. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: i have to imagine that hurt a bit. >> of course it did. of course it did. >> reporter: the so-called value-added analysis is a controversial approach to grading teachers. it takes each student's standardized test score from one year and compares it to the next. if the score goes up, the teacher is considered effective. if it goes down, the teacher's ranking goes down. yet critics say test scores don't tell the whole story. >> typically, you are just measuring progress in english and math, not any other subjects or in any of the other kinds of things we might hope teachers will impart to kids. >> reporter: here's how most teachers are evaluated right now. they stand in front of the class and teach. the principal sits back here and watches and fills out a form. the results, one study found 99% of teachers were rated good or great even in schools where moth students are failing. >> if you really want to have a

meaningful evaluation with a teacher, part of what you need to look at, how much are their students learning each year? i think that is basically common sense. >> reporter: education secretary arne duncan says washington, d.c.'s revamped teacher evaluations could become a national model. 50% is based on student test scores, 40%, classroom observation. 5%, the school's overall performance and 5% for the teacher's contribution to the school community. we do know teachers matter. when underperforming students were assigned to an effective teacher three years in a row, 90% of them passed their standardized tests. but when students had an ineffective teacher for three years, only 42% passed. back in los angeles, claudia trevison's daughter just started third grade. our cameras rolled as she looked up her school's teachers on the "l.a. times" site. are you nervous about looking this up? >> no, i'm more excited.

i think our teachers have done really well. >> reporter: in fact, four of the teachers listed were rated below average, even though the school was rated above average. >> if it makes teachers more accountable and want to do a better job, then that's better for our kids. >> reporter: because most teachers don't want to fail their students. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> and that is the "cbs morning news" for this wednesday. appreciate you watching this morning. hope to see you a bit later for "the early show." i'm terrell brown. take care, everybody. i'm terrell brown. take care, everybody. have a great day! -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. a suspect description in the attacks on women in oakland's lake merritt area. >> a.c. transit talks more about cutting service to help ba